Funshine Bear
(Note: The subject of this article has conflicting sources to its gender. For the purposes of consistency and readability, masculine pronouns will be used throughout as they are the most widely exhibited throughout different media.) Funshine Bear is one of the ten original Care Bears who first appeared on American Greetings greeting cards in late 1982. Appearance Funshine always has bright yellow fur and a smiling sun Belly badge. (Tummy symbol) Personality In the original series, Funshine always looks on the sunny side of life. Happy, perky, and ready to rise with each day, he's equally ready and willing to help others, bear or child alike. Using his tummy symbol, he can light up the darkest night or shine a beacon for all to see. However, he has a tendency to be a practical jokester, which can sometimes land him in trouble. Beginning with the early 2000's franchise re-launch, Funshine was given a more outgoing, athletic personality, but still retains the overall fun-loving spirit of the original. This thrill-seeking bear lives to seize each day, whether through extreme sports or games, and can't stand being cooped up for even a moment. In the Adventures in Care-a-Lot series, he is always seen wearing a red baseball cap, and has a fairly masculine voice. In this series, he has lost his forte at telling jokes, as it was changed to having fun. In the 2012 series, Welcome to Care-a-Lot, he digs playing games or going for a splash. He is also obsessed with games and he especially loves hang-gliding. Basically, the only thing that makes him sad is when others don't play with him, as he likes to play with others. Original series ''The Land Without Feelings'' Funshine Bear makes his animated debut in the very first Care Bears 1983 television special. Here, as well as the rest of the original series, he presents as female. After a boy named Kevin runs away from home, he ends up in the gloomy Land Without Feelings ruled by Professor Coldheart, who turns him into a Green Creature Slave. It's up the her and the rest of the crew to defeat the mad professor and return the boy to normal. ''Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine'' In the follow-up to the original TV special, Funshine is among the bears who must once again stop Coldheart and his new sidekick Frostbite from tricking a boy named Paul into helping him complete his "Careless Ray Contraption" that will freeze everyone's feelings. ''The Care Bears Movie'' Funshine Bear appears in the first Care Bears theatrical film as one of the bears who welcomes the children Kim and Jason to Care-a-Lot during the "Nobody Cares Like a Bear" song sequence. He is later part of the crew of the ship The Cloud Clipper as they travel through the Forest of Feelings looking for their lost friends. After re-uniting with their wayward comrades, and joining forces with the Care Bear Cousins, the group travels to Earth to combat the evil Spirit and seal her away for good. ''Care Bears'' TV series Funshine makes his debut in the original Care Bears television series in the second episode, where he and several other bears travel to Earth join two boys named Sanford and Murphy on a camping trip, and help them come together despite their differences. He is later among the team that helps a boy named Joey feel better about his new braces, and joins a soccer game with a timid boy named Carl against a group of bullies to help him build confidence. When Cheer Bear becomes depressed because she can't cheer up Grumpy Bear, Funshine is among the bears who hold a comedy show called "Laugh Night" to try and cheer them both up. Later, he is seen when Professor Coldheart begins kidnapping children to steal their warmth, and follows him to his secret hiding place in the forest. When the mad doctor rigs a contest for children to be mayor of a small town for a day, Funshine and his friends team up with some local children to put an end to his reign of terror. When the bears encounter a new villain named Strato Nefarious, who is stealing the stars from the sky so he can use their light to read his sheet music, Funshine uses his tummy symbol to create a small portable sun for the fiendish fiddler to use instead. Later, when Coldheart once again tries to terrorize a town using his new "Un-caring Ray", Funshine is among the group that travel to Earth to stop him. ''Care Bears Movie II'' The second Care Bears theatrical film tells the story of how the bears themselves, including Funshine, first arrived in Care-a-Lot after being rescued from the clutches of the evil Dark Heart. When the villain once again plans to capture all the denizens of Care-a-Lot, Funshine is among the many who are imprisoned in his secret lair. With the help of a girl named Christy, he and his friends are freed, and help Dark Heart care enough to transform into a real boy. ''Care Bears Family'' TV series Funshine first appears in Nelvana's Care Bears Family TV series as one of the contestants during the annual Care-a-Lot Obstacle Race to compete to be king or queen for a day. When Mr. Beastly rigs the drawing to become a participant himself, he begins to cheat her way through the whole competition, with Funshine falling into a pit trap. Later, when Grumpy Bear, Brave Heart Lion, Lotsa Heart Elephant and Baby Hugs and Tugs go on a camping trip, Funshine and Playful Heart Monkey play practical jokes on them the entire time, even pretending to yell for help from a "swamp monster". However, when a real swamp monster shows up, the two must fend for themselves while protecting the cubs, who wandered away from the group. He learned that playing mean jokes on others can fire back at times. ''Care Bears Nutcracker Suite'' Funshine is one of the main characters of the final original series television special who travels to Earth with Grumpy Bear help a girl named Anna feel better after her best friend moves away. However, when a portal to Toyland opens in her home and releases both a Nutcracker and a horde of rats, (s)he and Grumpy call for help and re-group with other Care Bear Family members before entering the other realm. Together with Anna and the Nutcracker, Funshine and the rest must stop the Vizier from ruling all of Toyland. . 2000's series ''Journey to Joke-a-Lot'' Funshine is the focus of the first computer-animated Care Bears film, Journey to Joke-a-lot, released in 2004. From this film onwards, he presents as male. After one of his practical jokes on Grumpy Bear backfires, he runs away to the land of Joke-a-lot, where laughing and having fun is the main focus. Upon arrival in the town square by parachute, a rat named Sir Funnybone exclaims that he is their long-lost king, and dubs him the new ruler of the land. However, this all turns out to be an elaborate plan by the rascally rodent, who wants to steal the new king's scepter following his coronation to gain access to the royal vault, which contains jewels that hold the power of all the joy of the kingdom. When the rest of the bears arrive, they become privy to Funnybone's plan and try to help Funshine. After foiling his plot to steal the scepter at the "Laff-Fest", the villain reveals his real name is Basil Ratbone, from the No Fun Atoll, and admits that he only wanted the jewels so he could introduce the concept of "fun" to the rest of his friends. After revealing that Funshine isn't the destined king, he relinquishes his title to Gig the pig, who becomes princess. ''Big Wish Movie'' In the second CG Care Bears video, Tenderheart is among the residents of Care-a-Lot who welcome their new neighbors, Me Bear, Messy Bear, and Too Loud Bear to the community. Later in the film, when the new bears abuse the power of Wish Bear's wishing star Twinkers, their greed eventually becomes too severe and Care-a-Lot begins to fall apart at the seems. Its up to the Care Bears, including Tenderheart, to rebuild it in the aftermath. ''Oopsy Does It! Funshine appears in the ''Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! film as one of the citizens of Care-a-Lot whose Belly Badge is stolen by Grizzle after he tricks Oopsy Bear into helping him. However, when Grizzle attempts to use the combined badges of all Care Bears to destroy Care-a-Lot, he finds that they won't respond to his commands because he simply "doesn't care". Though the orb containing the badges eventually gets destroyed, Funshine and the other Care Bears hold hands and are able to reclaim their powers by remembering how much they care. ''Adventures in Care-a-Lot'' TV series Funshine is one of the main recurring characters in the 2007-2008 Adventures in Care-a-Lot series, and appears prominently in a number of episodes. He has a tendency to get a swelled head, such as when he was given an award by the rest of the bears for his overall helpful nature, which later touted at every opportunity. Later, when Share Bear gets into a minor accident, he becomes determined to force safety measures at the expense of everyone's fun, even temporarily re-naming herself "Care-ful Bear". After foregoing sleep one night to stay up and play, Funshine comes down with a case of "the bubbles" and begins to uncontrollably hiccup while spewing bubbles from his mouth and floating around. Unfortunately the treatment is rest and quite, something he positively can't stand. Later, when he discovers a new place to play known as Rainshine Meadows, which has fallen into a dilapidated state, he tries to clean it up herself only to find the task too great. However, his persistence rubs off on the other Care Bears, and they help restore the area to its former glory. Funshine later develops a rivalry with Tenderheart Bear on two separate occasions. First, after trying Grumpy's new bouncy boots invention, the two try to out-dare each other to do progressively more dangerous things, with one unwilling to concede to the other that they're scared. Then, the two begin to feud when Funshine accidentally breaks Tenderheart's pogo stick, but have to learn to work together when Grizzle's "Forget-Me-Ray" wipes the memories of all the other bears in Care-a-Lot. Funshine always wears a red baseball cap, and has a masculine-sounding voice. 2010's series ''Welcome to Care-a-Lot'' TV series Funshine is once again a main recurring character in the 2012 Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot television series. In the very first episode, he helps a girl named Penny who, like her, loves high speed, but learns that sometimes you have to slow things down. Later, Thanks-a-Lot Bear and Secret Bear form a detective club and begin questioning everyone in Care-a-Lot over the vandalism of Grumpy's "Care-a-van", with Funshine becoming particularly annoyed. After winning the "Care Bearathon" competition, Funshine becomes even more competitive than usual, and tries to be the best at everything, much to everyone's chagrin. At one point, he drinks an ill-prepared batch of rainbow tea made by Share Bear which changes him, and several other bears', fur into crazy colors. While the rest scramble to find a solution in time for the annual Care-a-Lot picture day, Funshine actually likes his new tie-dye look, but is forced to change back by an irate Harmony Bear. ''Care Bears: The Care Quests'' Funshine Bear is one of the playable characters in the 2005 Game Boy Advance video game Care Bears: The Care Quests during the minigame "Hide-and-Seek", where she must look for other bears who are hiding behind clouds. Notes *Funshine is mentioned in the opening credits song of the original Dic Care Bears animated series "I Wanna be a Care Bear" ("I'd be like Funshine and make the sun shine..."). He would later have his own singing line in the song "Flying my Colours" from the second film ("Got the sun on my tummy and a smile on my face, I'm ready for a party any time, any place.") *Funshine from the 2000's series onward can be compared to both Champ Bear from the original series and Superstar Bear, as all three are yellow, athletic, and outgoing. *Not counting Grams Bear's stories, Funshine is one of two Care Bear Family members to be a queen at some point, after Queen-for-a-Day Lotsa Heart in "The Great Race". *Funshine appears in the 38th episode of Cartoon Network's Mad TV series, "Monkey Ball Z / The Green Care Bear", during a segment that parodies the 2011 film Green Lantern. He is seen doing battle with the rest of the bears and Hal Jordan after apparently being corrupted by Parallax. *He appears to be transgender or genderqueer in some variety, switching from feminine to masculine pronouns in Journey to Joke-A-Lot. He could possibly be genderfluid, or trans male. *He has a friendly rivalry to Tenderheart and Brave Heart Lion In other languages: Croatian: Vedrana (from the word vedra, meaning "bright", "shiny", "smiling", "sunny") Dutch: Zonnebeertje ("Sun Bear") French: Grosjojo French (Canadian): Solours German: Sonnenscheinbärchi ("Sunshine Bear") Hebrew: דוב שמחה ("Happy Bear") Italian: Mattacchiorso ("Joker Bear") Japanese: ファンシャインベア Norwegian: '''Gladbamse ("Glad Bear") '''Polish: Miś Zabawy ("Fun Bear") Portuguese: Brilhante ("Brilliant") Spanish: Divertosito ("Funny Bear") Spanish (Spain): Mattachiorso ("Joker Bear") Swedish: Solnalle ("Sun Bear") Russian: Солнышко ("Sun Bear") Category:Males Category:Care Bears Category:Ambiguous Gender